Wormerine

Surprise, surprise

Meh, unless OW2 will be a space sim (which is not impossible, but I greatly doubt it) all of it would be more or less waste of time. And if I want beautiful looking "immersive" space sim with nothing fun to do, I will reinstal and play Elite. There is still so much to expand upon within OW2 gameplay loop to bring it at least close to something like New Vegas, that spending money and time on stuff like that would be wasteful.

It seems Final Fantasy VII remake will be coming out on PC at some point on Epic. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/final-fantasy-7-remake-appears-in-hidden-epic-store-product-listing

I absolutely think that choice and reactivity is important, but for me how interesting those choices are is more important that how many they are or how much unique content they have. For example there is a big central conflict between two factions in BG3 and I feel there is a right way to proceed. There are few other ways one can handle the situation, but those others are **** paths - and not selfish ****, as if: I am screwing other people over, but it benefits me. Just yolo ****. I intentionally created an evil rogue character, and most of the time I couldn't justify following the evil path.

I am making a guess, but I wonder if a non-Baldur's Gate game would be able to get such a big budget. BG is a flagship IP, so even though Larian is more interested in expanding their D:OS formula, it might have greatly controbuted to funding. I find Larian's storytelling wanting. Their games feel to me more like sandbox or themepark then an interactive story or adventure. Wealth of interactivity and reactivity doesn't mean anything to me, if I am not drawn into fiction. Having choice is unappealing, if I am not concerned about outcome. I really dislike Larian's coopcentric design - Origins I think are a horrible abomination resulting in not interesting companions, and reducing our ability to shape our custom NPC when deciding to go that route. I am doubtful if Larian's commitment to high fidelity presentation will pay off. What we have so far, I think is awful, but with game not being finished yet it is difficult to say how it will look. And then there is weird stuff - taking rest teleporting you to a pocked-universe camp in a generic woods, quick travel teleport, singular map design which doesn't try to create a coherent locations (people unaware of what is happening outside the zone they have been designed for - think Driftwood citizens from D:OS2 unaware of a massive hole in the ground a minute away from their town). I will am not hang up on any individual changes (being made by Larian, I did expect to get Larian game) but I am doubtful. When it was announced I thought: "Larian game using DnD setting and ruleset! I can get behind that", and then Larian seems to try to gut DnD and make it as close to Divinity as they can - missing is rare due to overabundance of advantage, guaranteed source of damage through surfaces, broken action economy. It's not even D:OS2 vs DnD - it's just both work so differently that I think Larian is in danger of satisfying no one. But they still have time to itirate. I do hope the changes he is talking about will attempt to fix at least some problems (like reactions). I don't really judge BG3 against BG1&2 - I see Larian games as a completely different genre then Infinity Engine games, though I wish they had a different sense of humor. I find their games rather unfunny. Then again, I didn't like D:OS2 much. In fact, I thought D:OS1 was a better title. I do think that BG3 will be better then either, and BG3 definitely tries to address at least some of the criticism one could level against D:OS2 (companions are way more fleshed out for one), but it still doesn't just click with me. My datailed thoughts on each are here and here.

That's very sensible creed - one I try to live by, but tend to fail in upholding. With BG3 I used GoG generous Early Access policy to try the game, and decided to refund it and (most likely) wait for 1.0. After finishing Solasta, I am actually quite itching to jump back into BG3, but they will need to improve UI before I am willing to commit the full price. Encounter with the hag was pretty fun. I just would expect it to be a higher level encounter, not something to be done in act1. Encounter itself I liked, though it did use hand scripting (battle had stages tied to hag's health), which I don't have a definitive opinion on yet.

Been there, done that :-). Odd encounter for lvl 4 content. I know Larian want come back to pure DnD, but I wonder how well they can fixed problems that they have introduced.

I don't think I ever really got excited/aggravated by windows. As to why talk about Windows-asthetic choices - because it is how I differenciate one Windows from another as a casual user. I am sure there are much much more important differences, but frankly I am not likely to notice much change, beside how start menu and windows looks like (plus having to re-learn how to find various options that is always a rather frustrating process)

Playing Metro: Exodus. It's alright. I feel the game lost a lot by moving away from the metro setting, but then again I don't think I would like to spend yet another game in there. Already Last Light felt like it was retreading old ground. I am really bothered by Artiom's silence this time around. I found it awkward at times, but this time he has so much personal interactions with other characters, that it's comical for him to be mute. So much Artiom's internal exositions has to be done through other characters. There is also inconsistency - sometimes the games references/makes a joke about Artiom not saying anything, sometimes other characters seem to pretend that Artiom said something.

Oi! Looks like HoM&M knockoff. And I could really use a good one.

I actually just recently paid for Win10, as I used freeupdate on my laptop. but OMGGGGGGGG THE WINDOWS 11 HAVE ROUNDED CORNERS. TAKE MY MONEYS! https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/windows-11-has-leaked-will-have-rounded-corners-and-revised-start-menu EDIT. It looks like ****ty iOS

Well, planned release date. WIth 1,5 years to go, it's probably better to wait for details. Any gameplay would most likely be heavily touched up. I like the tone. I like hard SF. Need to see how SF plays before getting truly interested.

Good question, and I don't think I know the answer to it. I was about to write how damning I found Schreier's report - mainly that Bioware had no idea what they were setting out to do. Then again, it is not new, and seems to be common in game development. Mass Effect didn't end up as it was initially envisioned. That said, reading about ME1, it seems that they had too big ideas to realize, not lack of them. I generally am all for sequels - games are better suited for reuse of gameplay loops and gradual improvements, then most other mediums. Narrative nature of most Bioware games, I think goes against it. Stories tend to not get better with more installements. Worlds become duller the more they are explored, wonder and mistery becomes mundane. I loved Mass Effects (at least first two games), but I don't feel a need to return to this universe. Give me another adventure. Another world to explore. Surprise me. What I found appealing about Andromeda pitch wasn't familiar Mass Effect trappings but new positibilies that a new galaxy would allow for. I have heard once, that culture that stops innovating, and starts being interesting in its history is reaching its end. I don't know how true it is, but it rings true to me. If Bioware doesn't know what is the next cool thing that they want to do, then who will? EDIT. I am getting very philosophiocal here, and to be frank, nothing of it matters. If the next Bioware games look cool, and are received well, I will probably give them a chance. Hell, if DA4 looks good, I will probably finally buy and play Inquisition, just to be up to date. But I can't shake a feeling that Bioware as a studio was fundamentally broken with the massive expansion that happened before ME3.

I have fond memories of old Bioware games, but as it's been over 10 years since they did something decent (Didn't play Inquisition, from what I had heard this one has at least some merit to it), so I will need more then pretty words. I wouldn't count on myself getting interested in DA4, as I strongly disliked even DA:O, but ME4 has a chance to bring me back. I was already getting dangerously interested in Andromeda as the premise showed a lot of promise, but from what I heard they wiffed it. Over the years, I have grown more critical even of their old formula, so I am not sure how well I would respond to "classic Bioware" these days even if they returned to basics. But I must say, I don't think Bioware doing another DA and ME are good signs. Bioware peaked doing new things. Baldur's Gates, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, DA:Origins were all revolutionary and original in their times. To be good again, Bioware needs to be creative again. Doing old things, even if well, will at the most be nostalgia comfort food.

Spied on Leonard's linked in, and he still is at Obsidian. Considering how succesful tOW1 is, and I am pretty sure there is more two of them would like to do, I would be shocked if they weren't working on the sequel.

Bigger game doesn't necessarily mean more writing. We still don't know at this point what kind of the game Avowed is. It is also difficult to say how much of game's production consists of writing.

It told me more or less the same amount about the game. At least it confimed the leaks as authentic.

I would assume Tim Cain and Leo Boyarsky are continuing their work?

TOW1 teased the mistery of whats-up with Earth Directorate pretty hard. I would be surprised if it will turn ou to not be a hook set up for the sequel. It's also impossible to tell if tOW2 will take place more or less within the same timeframe as tOW1, or if they will move time forward (like they did Fallout1->Fallout2). If it would be "standalone" sequel, then they can expand corpo influence as much as they need.

If I could I would marry Arcane with Obsidian, though frankly IMO both are doing fine on their own.

I am intrigued by "Replaced". If anything, it's a looker. I do like the animations.

Does it? Corporation have bought Halcyon, but I don't think they necessarly stopped existing in other parts of the universe.

See you 3 years from now, when we get something more concrete.

Outer Worlds2 - meh. I mean we knew it will happen, and trailer shows nothing. Plague Tale - That's unexpected. It seemed like a one-off. I must say, I didn't like PT1, but the trailer looks cool. Redfall - so not Bloodlines-like. Generally not intersted in coop shooters, but Arcane is Arcane. NO FABLE! NO AVOWED! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EDIT: Obsidian posted this thing. No news really, just a nostalgic trip.